This Woman Spent a Year Reading a Book from every Country of the World

It was back in 2012 when a woman, an author had set for herself an ambitious target, which was that she had aimed and planned to read a book from every country. To make it more challenging for her, she had planned to read all of these in just one year.

Ann Morgan has now read about one-hundred and ninety-six books, she has written a book herself and also done a TED talk describing her experience. On achieving her target, Ann is reported to have said:

It’s amazing the breadth of perspective you get

Ann had stumbled upon the idea to read a variety of books from all over the world, when she scanned her bookshelves and was saddened to see that it was dominated by British and North American authors only. In the TED talk she says, so she prescribed herself “an intensive course of global reading”.

The challenge was not only enormous but was also intensive. It involved reading an average of about four books per week, as Ann also worked full time. And this was not the only struggle she had to overcome, finding these books in English translation from every country also served to be a hindrance while she worked to achieve her goal.

Additionally, Ann Morgan also talked about the power of the internet and how social media websites such as Twitter played an important role in her efforts to get the books which were either in English translation, as well as translators themselves willing to offer their time and services in order to help her achieve her goal. Thus, she claims that social media really is a testament to the extraordinary times we live in.

It was only after she shared an online appeal, she was staggered by the responses she received. People from all over the world began recommending her books.

She is also reported to have said:

It turns out, if you want to read the world, if you want to encounter it with an open mind, the world will help you.

Another thing that Ann did was that she mapped the world’s books. She created an interactive map and through it, she showed the book she read for every country.